Josh Hartnett Makes Rare Red Carpet Appearance at 2024 SAG Awards

Josh Hartnett made his first awards ceremony red carpet appearance in years as he celebrated the success of Oppenheimer at the 2024 SAG Awards.

Hartnett, 45, has taken a step back from Hollywood in the years since his role in 2001’s Pearl Harbor skyrocketed his fame. However, he made a rare appearance at Saturday’s SAG Awards, as he and the cast of Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster hit had collected several nominations, including for outstanding cast in a motion picture — which they won. 

The actor posed on the red carpet ahead of the awards show and also gave some rare interviews along the way. Describing his experience working on Oppenheimer, in which he stars as nuclear physicist Ernest Lawrence, he told E! News the film was a “dream come true.”

“We had a fun time making the film and then for it to be so phenomenally received and to have it be nominated by our peers for acting categories across the board … It’s phenomenal, it’s better than we could’ve imagined.”

Prior to Hartnett’s appearance on Saturday, his last major public appearance was more than six months ago at Oppenheimer's London premiere. He attended with his wife, Tamsin Egerton, and the couple looked chic together as they matched in cool colors at the star-studded event.

While Hartnett sported a sleek gray suit with the suit jacket left open to reveal a silver shirt buttoned down halfway, his wife wore a teal long-sleeved, collared dress with pink and white flower motifs, along with metallic strappy heels and silver jewelry. 

The couple, who met on set of The Lovers in 2011 and started dating in 2012, are pretty private about their relationship. They secretly wed in November 2021, PEOPLE confirmed several months after the fact. They also share three kids, a daughter they welcomed in late 2015, as well as another child in 2017 and a third in late 2019.

Of his family life, the 40 Days and 40 Nights star told Mr. Porter in 2021, “The thing I am most proud of is that I’m a father of three and I have a good relationship with my partner and a great family life and I’m still able to do good work and, as I’ve got older, the characters have become more interesting.”

A month after he and Egerton’s secret wedding, Hartnett did a rare interview with Australian talk show The Project, and he opened up about his decision to step away from the public life of a Hollywood star to instead focus on himself. 

"The biggest thing for me was, I really enjoy making films, but the industry itself was overwhelming for a 21-year-old kid," he explained. "The press was a little bit different back then — there was paparazzi around every corner, you couldn't really go anywhere without being sort of harassed.”

"I decided I didn't need that in my life, and I was able to still make films and live outside of it," he continued. "I lived in Minnesota a long time and New York, and now I live in the U.K. And I'm still able to work with great people and make good films, and I don't have to deal with all the stuff. So, it's kind of best of both worlds for me."

Hartnett rose to fame in the '90s with such movies as The Faculty, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and The Virgin Suicides, but he has said he "didn't want to be boxed into that superhero type" with blockbuster roles like Superman and Batman, telling Metro last year that "at that age it is very easy to become someone else's tool or someone else's puppet."

"I was very aware of the choices I was making and I wanted them to be my choices," he added.

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In June, he opened up again about his choice to live a private life with his family in an interview with The Independent as he admitted, “I’ve never been great at celebrity” since “being famous is a full-time job.”

“I had paparazzi chasing me, people approaching me. You weren’t allowed to really be yourself. There was no time for family or friends or any of that normal stuff. Plenty of actors have found that work-life balance, but I found it hard and I really sought it,” he said. 

Now, he spends most of his time at home in the U.K. with his wife and kids. “That’s essential to me maintaining a healthy mind," he told the outlet.